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The heart of Asia : $b A history of Russian Turkestan and the Central Asian Khanates from the earliest timesSkrine, Francis Henry

History

The heart of Asia : $b A history of Russian Turkestan and the Central Asian Khanates from the earliest times

Name: The heart of Asia : $b A history of Russian Turkestan and the Central Asian Khanates from the earliest times
Author: Skrine, Francis Henry

Skrine, Francis Henry

Asia, Central -- History; Asia, Central -- Relations -- Russia; Russia -- Relations -- Asia, Central

On the fall of the Barmecides, A.H. 187 (802), `Alī ibn `Isā[201] was
appointed to the governorship of Khorāsān, but the complaints against
his misgovernment and extortion grew so loud that in A.H. 189 (804)
Hārūn resolved to undertake a journey of inspection into the province.
He accordingly set out at the head of 50,000 men,[202] leaving the
government in the hands of his heir-apparent Amīn. On reaching Ray,
however, he found `Alī ibn `Isā awaiting his arrival with rich presents
for himself and his generals, and, soothed by these gifts and by the
flattery of the cruel governor, Hārūn took him into favour and sent him
back to Khorāsān, while he himself returned to his capital, A.H. 190
(806).

In the following year a certain Rāfi` ibn Layth, a grandson of the
Umayyad governor, Nasr ibn Sayyār, for reasons of private vengeance,
killed the governor of Samarkand and became master of that town.
With the aid of the discontented citizens and some Turkish tribes
he repulsed the army sent against him by `Alī ibn `Isā, A.H. 191
(807). Hārūn, on hearing of this revolt, at once despatched his
trusted general Harthama to re-establish order; but the seditionary
movement under Rāfi` continued to grow with such rapidity that the
Caliph thought fit to take the field against him in person.[203] So,
again leaving Baghdad in the hands of his son Amīn, he set out for
Khorāsān with a large army. On reaching Kirmānshāh, he sent forward
Ma´mūn, accompanied by Fadhl ibn Sahl as his vezīr, with orders to
establish himself in Merv and to send Harthama to attack Rāfi`, who
had established his camp in Bokhārā and was now practically master of
Transoxiana. Meanwhile the Caliph, who was suffering from a severe
malady,[204] was advancing by slower stages towards Khorāsān with the
main body of his army. On reaching Tūs the symptoms became more acute,
and on the 3rd of Jumāda II. 193 (24th March 809), the great Caliph
succumbed at the early age of forty-five, and was buried in that town.




CHAPTER XIII

DECLINE OF THE CALIPHS’ AUTHORITY IN KHORĀSĀN. THE TĀHIRIDES

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Opening the text

The heart of Asia : $b A history of Russian Turkestan and the Central Asian Khanates from the earliest timesSkrine, Francis Henry

History

The heart of Asia : $b A history of Russian Turkestan and the Central Asian Khanates from the earliest times

Skrine, Francis Henry

Asia, Central -- History; Asia, Central -- Relations -- Russia; Russia -- Relations -- Asia, Central

On the fall of the Barmecides, A.H. 187 (802), `Alī ibn `Isā[201] was
appointed to the governorship of Khorāsān, but the complaints against
his misgovernment and extortion grew so loud that in A.H. 189 (804)
Hārūn resolved to undertake a journey of inspection into the province.
He accordingly set out at the head of 50,000 men,[202] leaving the
government in the hands of his heir-apparent Amīn. On reaching Ray,
however, he found `Alī ibn `Isā awaiting his arrival with rich presents
for himself and his generals, and, soothed by these gifts and by the
flattery of the cruel governor, Hārūn took him into favour and sent him
back to Khorāsān, while he himself returned to his capital, A.H. 190
(806).

In the following year a certain Rāfi` ibn Layth, a grandson of the
Umayyad governor, Nasr ibn Sayyār, for reasons of private vengeance,
killed the governor of Samarkand and became master of that town.
With the aid of the discontented citizens and some Turkish tribes
he repulsed the army sent against him by `Alī ibn `Isā, A.H. 191
(807). Hārūn, on hearing of this revolt, at once despatched his
trusted general Harthama to re-establish order; but the seditionary
movement under Rāfi` continued to grow with such rapidity that the
Caliph thought fit to take the field against him in person.[203] So,
again leaving Baghdad in the hands of his son Amīn, he set out for
Khorāsān with a large army. On reaching Kirmānshāh, he sent forward
Ma´mūn, accompanied by Fadhl ibn Sahl as his vezīr, with orders to
establish himself in Merv and to send Harthama to attack Rāfi`, who
had established his camp in Bokhārā and was now practically master of
Transoxiana. Meanwhile the Caliph, who was suffering from a severe
malady,[204] was advancing by slower stages towards Khorāsān with the
main body of his army. On reaching Tūs the symptoms became more acute,
and on the 3rd of Jumāda II. 193 (24th March 809), the great Caliph
succumbed at the early age of forty-five, and was buried in that town.




CHAPTER XIII

DECLINE OF THE CALIPHS’ AUTHORITY IN KHORĀSĀN. THE TĀHIRIDES

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

The heart of Asia : $b A history of Russian Turkestan and the Central Asian Khanates from the earliest times

The heart of Asia : $b A history of Russian Turkestan and the Central Asian Khanates from the earliest times

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